Earth
by kala-kimipeli
Summary: Syaoran, a troubled boy just getting by in life, is about to meet with life it'self. But can he help her to survive?
1. Chapter 1

It itched.

My entire body itched with pain. Cold and hot at the same time. Sweat lingering down my back even when I'm shivering.

My lungs feel heavy. They feel as though there is water in them. And yet they feel as though they are polluted with smoke.

I feel the wind go right through me.

It hurts. My whole body hurts.

I sit and wait at the train station for my next attempt at a different life even though I know that I cannot get away from the people, or myself.

So I sit and wait in pain. I feel as though I am going to die. Yet I have lived for so long that I know that my body won't give up without a fight. A very long, drawn out fight.

I should be dead already.

I hear the train coming. It rolls over a few branches laying on the tracks. And my heart hurts.

The other people also waiting for the train stare at me. I look like a drug addict the way I'm sweating and shivering. I want to tell them to how much I hate them.

The train pulls to a slow stop and I force my aching body to get up.

I want to sleep. I haven't slept in days now. I can feel myself dying.

As I step onto the train and find myself a seat I feel more stares. I've gotten used to it now.

The train jumps at first before it starts rolling away. I stare at the place that I had called home for ten years. But it looks exactly like every other town that I had left. Dying trees, factories, and people with a death wish.

………………………………………..

**So this is a new story that I have been working on. Well…I've had the idea for it for about a year now but I just haven't actually started on it until now. **

**This is just the prologue. **

**The next part should be up in about an hour or so. **

**Reviews help a lot!**


	2. Chapter 2

It was a cold night out as Syaoran Li walked home

It was a cold night out as Syaoran Li walked home. He tugged at his coat to keep the warmth inside. His pace was fast though he wasn't exactly excited to go home. His father was probably waiting up for him, drunk and holding a baseball bat with Syaoran's name on it.

He took the last drag of his smoke and threw it away. Twenty more feet and he would be home. He jumped over the fence so that he wouldn't make a sound. Syaoran crept up to one of the windows looking into the living room. There he saw his father, passed out with the T.V. on and a bottle of hard liquor dangling from his finger tips to the floor.

_At least he's asleep, _Syaoran thought. But that didn't mean that he was in the clear.

Syaoran quietly walked around to his bedroom window, opened it and snuck in. At the last minute he clumsily fell to the floor making a hard 'bang' noise. He laid still for a moment, listening to see if his father had woken up. After a few minutes where Syaoran heard nothing, he got up and turned the light on.

As he was about to take his shoes off he heard shuffling. Small and frail feet were walking towards his room. He knew it was his mother. Syaoran opened the door so that she wouldn't have to knock on it and make a sound.

"Hey sweetie." She whispered, coming into his room.

"Mom, why are you still up? It's late." Syaoran whispered back as he closed the door behind her.

"Oh I couldn't sleep. I was wondering when you were coming home tonight." She smiled.

Syaoran took a good look at his mother. Naomi used to be so beautiful. Now her face was pale and bruised and her body thin and light. There was a new bruise.

"You don't look so good." Syaoran finally said.

Naomi sat down on his bed and shrugged it off. "It's nothing."

Syaoran shook his head and brushed his fingers through his tattered hair. That was what she always said.

"This isn't good, mom. We can't live with that man anymore." Syaoran said. "He's making our lives hell."

Naomi sighed. "I know dear. But…he's given us a place to live, food, and a little money."

"That shouldn't be a reason why we're still here." Syaoran raised his voice. His mother winced. Loud noises always made her nervous now. "Why can't we go live with Grandma? She's been offering for us to live with her since we moved here."

"I just think that we need to give more appreciation to Nobu." Naomi said.

"Appreciation? Mother the man beats you. What possesses you to think that he needs any appreciation!" Syaoran yelled. He immediately regretted it when he heard grumbling coming from outside his door in the living room.

Naomi had a look of sorrow on her face for she knew what was coming. Syaoran also knew that he had made a grave mistake.

"Come out 'ere boy!" Syaoran heard through the door.

If he didn't not present himself to Nobu immediately then he would get the consequences. So Syaoran gave a last despising look at his mother and opened the door. He stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him.

"Who were you talkin' to there boy?" Nobu said drunkenly. He staggered on the spot, pointing a finger at Syaoran

Nobu was actually a handsome man. But when you knew him like how Syaoran did, he was the ugliest man in the world.

"I wasn't talking to anybody." Syaoran said shortly.

"Boy, don't lie to me."

Syaoran absolutely hated it that Nobu called him Boy.

"I'm not lying. You're drunk; you're probably just hearing things."

Nobu's face went red. "Don't you dare talk back to me!" He raised his arm and backhanded Syaoran across the cheek. His head whipped to the side but he did not stumble back like how he used to.

Syaoran looked back up at Nobu, almost daring him to raise his fist again. Which he did. Nobu's fist pounded into Syaoran's stomach, and then to his face over and over again in a non stop assault. And all Syaoran could do was to just stand there and take it.

_Better me than mom, _Syaoran thought.

…………………………………….

"Geeze Syaoran, what did you do last night? Get in a fight with a bear?" Takashi asked.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. _Trust him to make a big deal out of it. _

"Just got into a fight with some guy that's all." Syaoran shrugged, lighting a cigarette. None of his friends knew about his home life. It was nothing they had to concern themselves with. At least that's what Syaoran thought.

They were all sitting on a picnic table at Tomoeda High School. 'They' being Syaoran, Takashi, Eriol, and Tomoyo. They were all close. Eriol and Syaoran have known each other pretty much since birth. Takashi and Tomoyo just happened to come a long when they were all in the eight grade. Now in grade 12, they remain together.

"Which guy?" Takashi prodded.

"I don't know. Some guy. I was kind of drunk." Syaoran lied.

Takashi just nodded and sipped at his juice box, looking around the rest of the school grounds. He stopped and stared at an unknown figure walking towards the front doors of the school. Takashi nudged Syaoran and asked, "Who's that? I've never seen her before."

Syaoran lazily glanced at her. "I don't know. Probably some new exchange student." He shrugged. But as he took a closer look he noticed something different about her. Something almost sickly. But he chose to ignore it and continued with his smoke.

"I think there's something wrong with her." Tomoyo said, also examining the girl. Just as Syaoran glanced up again the girl had disappeared into the building. Again he thought nothing of it.

Eriol kicked his foot against one of the picnic table's legs making a dull "thunk" each time. And every time he did it Syaoran twitched a little. His eyes would blink and his fists would clench. He tried to calm himself down but the more Eriol kicked the more disturbing it was to Syaoran.

"Could you cut that out?" Syaoran finally snapped. Eriol gave him a 'screw you' look but stopped anyways. Inside Syaoran was shaking. He could feel his hands itching to hit something.

What if he did take a swing at Nobu? Would it hurt him? Would he back off? Or would he just beat Syaoran until his death? Syaoran has often contemplated hitting Nobu back. In Syaoran's mind, he deserved it for putting his mother through hell. Naomi wasn't strong enough to defend herself physically or mentally. That is why his poor mother couldn't leave Nobu.

_I'll get him sometime, _Syaoran promised to himself.

The bell rang then, telling all the students that the lunch break was over. Takashi groaned as he was the first to get up. "I cannot wait until I don't have to come to school anymore." He muttered.

Eriol got up beside him and gave him a light punch in the arm. "You should be more appreciative. School isn't as bad as having a job for the rest of your life."

At the word 'appreciative', Syaoran got up and started walking away. "See you guys in there." He muttered.

They all stared after him. "What's up with him today? He's a little…edgy." Tomoyo said. Takashi just shook his head and shrugged.

"Who knows with him." Eriol said as they started to walk in behind him.

…………………………………………

Somewhere between the front yard of the school and his History class, Syaoran got lost and ended up sitting in the hallways because he was late for class. Tomoyo would catch him up since they had the same class.

Syaoran folded a piece of paper into a small, tight triangle, and tried to flick it across the hall where all the other abandoned triangles were. There wasn't much to do that was entertaining while at school. Unless you were one of the druggies who would skip classes all day just to get stoned. Syaoran had a fleeting thought that maybe those pot heads had it the right way around.

It was so quiet in the halls. Syaoran made a tapping noise with his foot on the ground and it echoed. Sometimes it was the silence that bothered him most. When you can't hear anything, when there is absolutely no sound; that seems the most disturbing. You don't want to mess around with the silence.

As Syaoran got up to leave, the whole silence of the halls was broken.

"Are you just going to leave those there?" A girl's voice asked him.

Syaoran turned around to see the girl that he had seen before outside. She looked even more like death up close. "Janitor will clean it up." He answered.

The girl rolled her eyes and mumbled something under her breath as she bent down to pick up the pieces of paper.

"What did you say?" Syaoran asked, his eyebrows lowering.

The girl stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. "Nothing at all. I was just amazed at your abilities to be a dick."

It was Syaoran's turn to roll his eyes. "Alright, I'll help." And he too bent down to pick up his mess. "Why are you so concerned about it anyways?"

She hesitated for a second before answering. "I'm just not a big fan of littering."

Syaoran stared at her for a moment. The girl was pale, her eyes sunken in as though she hadn't eaten in weeks. And her hands, they were so skinny and they were shaking. In fact her whole body was shaking.

"Hey, uh…are you okay? You don't look so good." He said, still looking at her.

She froze for a second, as though she had been caught doing something wrong. "I'm…I'm fine thanks. I have to go." She got up so fast Syaoran barely even saw her move.

"Wait!" He called after her. She stopped mid step and turned her head back to him. "What's your name? I mean…if you don't mind me asking." Once again she hesitated. "I'm Syaoran." Syaoran said quickly as an after thought.

She gave a small smile. "It's Sakura. Bye."

………………………………………………………….

**Yeah sorry about that whole thing where I said I'd have this up in an hour or so like two days ago. But here it is. It will get more detailed and get moving faster. **


	3. Chapter 3

"Where did you go Syaoran

"Where did you go Syaoran? I thought you were going to be in class." Tomoyo nudged Syaoran's arm as they walked out of the school to go sit at their usual picnic table again.

"Sorry, I just really wasn't feeling going to the rest of my classes today." Syaoran answered with a sigh. Takashi and Eriol hadn't come out of the school yet, so Syaoran and Tomoyo waited awkwardly for them. It was awkward because they barely ever talked alone. There was always either Takashi or Eriol with them. Not that Syaoran and Tomoyo didn't like each other. They just never had a real talk.

So Syaoran thought of something to say. "Hey you know that girl that we saw walking into the school?" Tomoyo nodded. "I met her."

Tomoyo's eyes perked up a little. "Yeah? What did she say?" She asked a little too eagerly.

"She asked if I was going to pick up the paper that I was throwing in the hall." Syaoran pulled out his sunglasses and put them on.

Tomoyo waited for Syaoran to say something else, but when he didn't she nudged and asked "So? Did she say anything else? Did she tell you her name?"

Syaoran nodded, "She told me her name is Sakura. You know, she looks like she needs to be in a hospital. She looks even worse up close." Syaoran stopped to think about her again. She was very odd. No one really cared about garbage or pieces of paper like her. It was just the way the kids in Tomoeda were brought up.

"I wanna meet her." Tomoyo pouted. Tomoyo loves to meet new people. That was just her thing. She was always so open and kind to others that it was almost disgusting. Well…in Syaoran's mind it was.

"You want to meet who?" Eriol asked sitting beside Tomoyo and kissing her on the cheek. Takashi sat on the other side of her leaving Syaoran to sit on the other side by himself.

Tomoyo giggled and replied, "The girl that we saw walking into the school today. Syaoran met her. Her name is Sakura. Don't you think that's a pretty name?" Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Oh my god there she is!" Tomoyo almost screamed. "I'll be right back."

Tomoyo shot up and practically ran towards the girl named Sakura. Syaoran could already see it coming. Tomoyo had a plan. And it was not going to be any good for Syaoran if he got involved. But he watched anyways as Tomoyo went up to Sakura, talked to her for a second and then started walking back with her.

"Hey guys, I want to meet Sakura." Eriol and Takashi both said hi and told her their names. Tomoyo went on, "And of course you and Syaoran have already met."

Sakura looked at him and said, "Oh yeah, the paper throwing guy. Hey." She said and sat down beside him.

"Is that how I'm going to be known as? The paper throwing guy?" Syaoran asked.

"It can be." Sakura said, a small smile on her face. She looked pretty when she smiled. At least Syaoran thought so. They stared at each other for a quick second before looking away.

"So where did you come from Sakura?" Tomoyo asked.

"Lot's of places actually." Sakura made a face that said she had to think about it. "Well I come from Japan originally, there was the States, a month or so in Canada, and I went to England which is my absolute favourite place, and Spain. I _love _Spain." She explained.

Tomoyo looked wow'ed. "Holy shit. Do your parents drag you around with them or something?"

Sakura went a little stiff when Tomoyo asked that. Syaoran noticed right away. "No, I just travel on my own. My parent's are in China somewhere." She replied, seeming uncomfortable now.

But Tomoyo wasn't about to stop her assault of questions. "You travel by yourself? That's so cool! Why did you decide to come here?"

"Hey, Tomoyo, maybe you could cut back on the questions. Besides she doesn't know anything about us." Syaoran interrupted.

A look of realization fell upon Tomoyo. "Oh god, you're right! I'm so sorry Sakura. I get a bit excited meeting new people." She laughed.

Sakura shook her head and smiled. "It's okay. I've never actually had much of anybody to talk to so I don't mind." She looked at Syaoran as if to say, 'shut up'. "But I really should be going. I have to get home; I'm not feeling too great."

"No kidding! You look pretty sick. Let us walk you home." Takashi offered politely.

Sakura looked shocked. "Oh no, I couldn't. It's probably out of your way."

"Don't even worry about that." Tomoyo replied. "Besides, we couldn't just let you walk around by yourself since you're new here. Let's go!"

Even if Sakura had wanted to argue she would not have won against Tomoyo. Her personality was too great to argue with. "Um…okay." She agreed.

Syaoran waited until the girls were a little bit ahead before he got up and started walking. He felt almost uneasy around Sakura and even more uneasy at how fast the others were taking her into their care. Even Eriol seemed like he already liked her, and Eriol was just about the same as Syaoran. He just didn't get it.

………………………………………………………..

As soon as I closed the door to my apartment I slid down to my knees and cried because of the pain I was in. My whole body felt as though I was being stabbed by rusty spikes. I can't do this anymore. I want to give up. I want this to just end. What have these fucking people done to me? I can feel the pollution, the hot air as well as the cold, and my head feels as though it's so clouded that I can't even think.

I slowly get the courage to get up and walk over to the kitchen and open the freezer which I only used for ice packs that I only rarely take out. To use them every day would be a disaster. I pick them all up and make my way into the bathroom where I relieve myself on my clothes, turn on the cold water and lay the ice pack into the tub. I get in so fast that my body constricts immediately.

I'm so cold but I need this for the pain. I can almost hear the wind outside of the window that's starting to pick up. It had been so hot out that day. The humidity and smog were almost too much to bare. But the cold water helped so much.

Over the past few years I had been growing sicker. The machines, factories and people were growing at such a fast rate. It's been getting to be too much.

After my body temperature goes down I numbly pull myself out of the tub. I couldn't even feel the towel that I wrapped around myself. I couldn't even feel my legs moving into the bedroom where I collapsed onto the bed. I could already feel the heat slowly starting to come back. It wouldn't be long until I was feeling the hot and cold again.

I had made friends that day. That was a first. In every town I had moved to and from, they had all ignored me. Either that or they didn't even realize I was there. To them, I was just another body floating around with all the others. Their ignorance is going to kill them, and they don't even know it. What had I done to them? What did I do to deserve this? I just couldn't understand.

If only these humans knew what they were doing to me.

…………………………………………..

Syaoran shivered as the cold wind blew past him.

"That's weird. It got cold so fast." Takashi commented as he looked up into the sky.

"You can never tell what the weather is going to be like now-a-days." Tomoyo said as she pulled a sweater out from her bag and pulled it on.

…………………………………………..

**I had major writers block for a few days. So if this chapter sucks I'm sorry but I tried my best. It's kinda hard to work in the my whole idea into the story. **

**But anyways. **

**Reviews help! **


	4. Chapter 4

"It is HOT out today, folks

"_It is HOT out today, folks! Despite the cold chill we had yesterday the heat is turning right up! So get out your t-shirts and shorts, you'll definitely need them today-"_ Syaoran turned off the T.V. That announcer always bothered him and he wasn't a big fan of listening to him while he ate his dry cereal.

Naomi shuffled into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee. "Are you going out like that Syaoran? I thought it was supposed to be hot out?" She said as she looked Syaoran up and down. He was wearing his usual pants, t-shirt and sweater.

He shrugged, "It might get cold out again." That was a lie. Syaoran just didn't want anyone to see the bruises shaped like baseball bats.

"If you say so, sweetie." Naomi smiled.

Syaoran looked around and noticed that something was missing. "Where's Nobu? I thought he'd be up by now? Not that I'm complaining." He grunted the last part.

"He left early today. Something about a business meeting." She sighed. "He's had a lot of those lately. But never in the morning." Syaoran resisted the urge to tell her that Nobu was probably cheating on her too.

"I gotta head to school, Mom." Syaoran stood up and hugged his mother. "I won't be home right away after school. There's a new girl in town and Tomoyo wants us all to hang out today."

"Oh, well that's nice of you guys! Maybe I'll get to meet her some day." Naomi winked at Syaoran.

He rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not involved with her mom. She's just an acquaintance." Syaoran grabbed his back pack and walked to the door. Before he was able to leave though, he heard his mother say, "Well hopefully that will change." And then she skittered off into the living room.

Syaoran rubbed his eyes and sighed as he left his house to go to school. It wasn't a long walk. About five minutes or so. He really wasn't in the mood for seeing anybody though. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and brought one out as he sat on the picnic table, glad that no one was around yet. Syaoran lit the cigarette and let the smoke flow into his lungs. It was soothing to him.

"Smoking will kill you."

Syaoran jumped a little, hearing the sudden voice. He spun around on his seat and realized that Sakura was standing there, arms crossed and almost a smirk on her face.

"Pardon?" Was all Syaoran could say.

"I said smoking will kill you. But don't take my word for it. I'm sure you already know." She replied as she sat down beside him. "It feels nice in the shade." Sakura sighed.

"Uh…yeah." Syaoran didn't really know what to say, but as an after thought, "Sorry, does the smoke bother you?"

Sakura looked at him with a small smile. "Well aren't you polite. Yes it bothers me, but I'm used to it. So don't give up the chance to ruin your lungs on my account." She waved her hand as a dismissal.

Syaoran shrugged and took another drag, "If you say so."

They sat there for a few minutes, not quite an awkward silence passing through them. Syaoran, as weird as he felt doing this, listened to her breathing. It was almost as though she….wasn't. Out of the corner of his eye he couldn't even really see her breathe. Maybe she was just holding her breath?

"Are you feeling better?" Syaoran asked because of how sickly she had looked the previous day.

"What?" She turned her head to him.

"Oh, you just looked like you were kind of sick yesterday. I'm just wondering if you are feeling better." Syaoran seemed a little nervous now. What if that was a personal question? Likely not to anyone else, but Sakura just seemed extremely different, and Syaoran felt as though he had to walk on pins and needles around her. Though it was odd that he felt that way. They hadn't really spoken much more than a few sentences to each other.

Sakura was silent for a moment, and Syaoran immediately felt as though he's blown it. "I've been sick for a while. Just a bug that won't go away. That's all." Sakura smiled. She looked at Syaoran and a frown grew on her face. "That's a nasty bruise." She said, referring to the shiner Syaoran had on his right eye.

Syaoran took in a deep breath. "Yeah. War wound I guess you could say."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get it?" Sakura examined it from where she sat. She could see a cut in amongst the dark colours. It looked as though it was from a ring.

"Oh…I uh, just got into a fight with some guy the other day. Nothing serious." Syaoran tried to puff out his chest a little, making him look tougher.

Sakura had a look on her face that told Syaoran that she didn't believe him. But she nodded and let it go. Who was she to get into someone's personal life anyways? She wouldn't be around for long so what was the point?

"Hey, uh, do you think you could show me around the school?" Sakura asked, a little shy now. "The principle didn't exactly give me the grand tour. Guess he just kinda expected me to already know." She laughed half-heartedly.

"Sure. We have a while until class starts." Syaoran got up from the table, flicking away the cigarette he had forgotten about. Sakura gave him a dirty look as she stood up as well. Syaoran smirked and said, "Okay, I'll go put it in a trash can."

Sakura smiled, "Thank you. It's good to know that I have an impression on you."

"Yeah, the impression that if I litter you'll rip my heart out and show it to me." Syaoran laughed as he picked up the cigarette butt. Sakura punched him in the arm, if you could call it a punch, for it was weak and Syaoran barely felt it.

As they walked through the school Syaoran asked, "Which classes do you have?"

Sakura took out her timetable. "Um…English, Geography, Math, and History. I'm definitely not going to do well on the last two." She sighed.

"Well, I have Math and History too. And I don't mean to brag but I have pretty high marks in those. So if you ever need help I'd be willing to take some off my busy schedule." Syaoran nudged her arm, making her surprisingly stumble a little.

"Don't make it sound like a chore." Sakura laughed.

They went on through the school, Syaoran showing Sakura her classes and where her locker would be. It was odd though, for Syaoran was actually having a good time with this girl that he only met a day before. And Syaoran liked it. He liked laughing again. He liked having a conversation with Sakura. Any other girl he had talked to didn't have the same intelligence and infectious laughter as Sakura did.

And for once…he didn't think about Nobu.

……………………………………..

"Okay class, I want you to get your note books out and a couple pens because we have a long note to write today." Mr. Terada said, leaning over an overhead projector. He stood up straight again and looked at Sakura. "So, Sakura, we're just getting into the story of Hitler. I assume you know all about him."

Sakura looked up and said, "Yes."

"I asked the class yesterday what they thought of him, excluding Mr. Li whom I also expect to give me an answer." Terada gave him a look. "So what is your opinion on Hitler Sakura?"

"He was a genius." Sakura answered right away. A few gasps went across the room.

"Interesting, and what do you mean by that?" Terada leaned forward a bit.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Well, he managed to manipulate an entire country into believing one thing. Not that I agree with the horrible things he did. But manipulating one person to us is hard enough. To manipulate a country….I say again the man was a genius."

Syaoran snorted with a smirk on his face. Sakura turned to look at him.

"You disagree Syaoran?" Terada asked.

"Yes and no." Syaoran answered. "Indeed he was an incredibly smart man, but he was also a fool."

Terada was really getting into the discussion. "Can you explain that?"

Syaoran sat up straighter. "He was a fool for thinking that he could take over other countries. He was like a child. Once he got his way with one thing, he thought he could get away with it every time. But he failed when the Americans joined the war."

Terada looked shocked but satisfied. "Very good. These are the first two points that no one else, even in my other classes have made. Good job you two." He nodded at Sakura and Syaoran. "Now, to get on with that note."

Syaoran tapped Sakura on the shoulder and she turned her head to look at him. "I thought you said you wouldn't do well in this class." He whispered.

Sakura smirked, "That doesn't mean that I don't know anything about history."

……………………………………….

Tomoyo ran up to Syaoran and Sakura who were sat quite comfortably at the picnic table. "Sakura! How was your first day?" She asked excitedly.

"It wasn't all that bad. Except for the times that I had to spend with him." She pointed at Syaoran teasingly.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad to be around am I?" Syaoran said, almost pouting.

Tomoyo giggled, "You guys seem to be getting a long well." She eyed them both.

A light brush of pink went into Sakura's face. "Yeah right. I can't stand him." She looked away laughing.

"So what do you guys want to do today?" Tomoyo asked, quickly changing the subject to save Syaoran some embarrassment.

Eriol and Takashi came up behind Tomoyo. "I think we should go to your place. Maybe watch a movie, go swimming, have a few drinks." Eriol suggested.

"I like that idea." Takashi said. "You want to Sakura? Tomoyo's house is really nice." He said in a very tempting way.

"Why not?" Sakura agreed.

"I'll call my mom to send us a ride. It's a little far to walk in this heat." Tomoyo got out her cell phone and excused her self from the table.

Sakura knew all too well how hot it was outside. _I don't know if I can make it through the rest of the day. _

As they got up to go to the parking lot, Sakura swayed a bit as she put her hand on her forehead. Syaoran stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Sakura stabilized herself and looked up at Syaoran. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just…got up too fast. That's all." She smiled to try and hide her pain and walked ahead with Tomoyo.

_There is definitely something up with her, _Syaoran thought.

…………………………………………..

**There we go! Chapter 4! **

**As one of you guys mentioned in a review, when it said in the last chapter "**where I relieve myself on my clothes" **that was a definite mistake haha. Sakura's not a creep like that in my story. I'm just too lazy to change it. Hopefully you all knew what I meant. **

**Reviews help! **


	5. Chapter 5

"Is it cold

"Is it cold?" Sakura asked Tomoyo.

"The pool? Oh yeah. I made sure it was." Tomoyo said excitedly. The two of them were changing into bathing suites in Tomoyo's room. Sakura was amazed at the size of her house. All those tree's and wild life that was given up for brick and cement.

As Tomoyo turned back around to face Sakura she almost gasped. How skinny and frail Sakura looked. Tomoyo hadn't realized the unhealthy state her new friend was in. But she decided not to say anything about it to Sakura. But it was definitely something that she had to talk about to the boys.

"You ready?" Sakura asked, throwing a towel over herself.

Tomoyo snapped out of her daze. "Oh, yeah! The boys are probably already in the pool." She rolled her eyes.

They walked down two flights of stairs then out the kitchen door to get to Tomoyo's back yard. And, indeed, Syaoran, Takashi, and Eriol were already splashing around, enjoying to coolness of the pool.

Before Tomoyo could blink, Sakura threw her towel to the side and jumped right in. Sakura surfaced and had a look of what seemed to be euphoria on her face. What had been the sick looking girl from before turned into someone who had absolutely no troubles. Sakura's body tingled with delight as she swam around.

Syaoran swam up to her and splashed her face a little. "It's like you've never been in a pool before." He teased.

"It's hot out today. You think I'm just gonna sit at the side of the pool and watch you guys?" Sakura laughed and splashed Syaoran then dunked under, swimming away. Syaoran watched her from above and shook his head as he smiled. He lifted himself up onto the patio and dried himself off a bit and lit a cigarette. He noticed then that the temperature had gone down. The wind was picking up some.

But regardless of the weather, they all had a great time swimming and watching each other jump off the diving boards doing all sorts of tricks. When Tomoyo had brought out some beers and coolers, Sakura was the only one who did not drink any. Instead Tomoyo had gotten her a glass of water.

After a few more hours of swimming and drinking the whole group was exhausted. Eriol and Takashi said that they didn't need to be home on school nights so they voted to stay at Tomoyo's house for the night. Both Sakura and Syaoran felt the need to go home and sleep in their own beds.

"Hey, do you want me to walk home with you?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura looked surprised, like no one had ever asked her that before. "Yeah sure. I mean if you don't have to be home any time soon. It might take a while." She answered.

"Nah, my parents don't really care when I come home." Syaoran shrugged as they made their way from Tomoyo's house to the side walk. "So how do you like Tomoyo's place?"

Sakura sighed, "I guess it's pretty cool."

"You guess?" Syaoran asked.

"I mean, think of all the trees they cut down to put that house up. And all the animals that were robbed of their homes. It's kind of sad really." Sakura said, being completely honest.

Syaoran thought about it for a moment. He just liked the place because it was huge and so much more then what he was living in. "I've never thought of it that way." He waited for another moment. "You seem really in tune with the world." Syaoran glanced over in her direction, knowing already what her reaction would be.

As expected Sakura's face froze, her eyes bugged out a little. "I just happen to be a nature freak that's all." Her eyes wandered away, searching for something that would make for another subject.

But Syaoran went on. "Did you feel that wind that came around earlier? That was kind of strange. Just like the other day. I thought it was going to be hot out all day."

"Yeah. That was weird. But the world is dying, so you can never tell what it's going to do. Cold wind, tsunami, wild fires, hail. They are all signs that the world is either trying to repair itself, or giving up." Sakura said, a look of anger growing on her face.

It didn't take long for Syaoran to realize that maybe he should change the subject. "Hey, did you see Takashi jumping off that diving board? He's going to get himself killed one day." He laughed.

Sakura giggled, "Yeah that was pretty outrageous. The poor guy nearly lost his shorts ever time!"

"You noticed that too?" Syaoran shook his head. "All that guy ever wants is for his shorts to come off. Just so he can get some attention."

They laughed about Takashi for a little while. Syaoran told stories of Takashi's mishaps and his way with girls and how foolish he was. Sakura felt as though she had never laughed harder in her life.

"So where do you live?" Sakura asked after a while.

"Umm…" Syaoran got a little nervous. "Around the ghetto part of town. Not the greatest place to be." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. He hadn't realized it over the conversation he and Sakura were just having, but they were heading right towards his house. "Actually, it's right there."

They stopped walking right in front of Syaoran's house and stared at it. All the lights seemed to be out except for the one in the living room. Nobu was most likely still awake.

Sakura speculated the house. She wondered what room Syaoran slept in, what room was the kitchen where Syaoran ate, what room he showered in. She blushed a little at the last thought. Sakura couldn't get the image of Syaoran in the shower out of her head. As she was about to say that she should be going, a crash resonated from inside the house.

Sakura looked up at Syaoran, "What was-"

"Nothing. Let's go." Syaoran took Sakura's hand and led her away from his house, not even really knowing where he was going.

"But Syaoran-"

"I said it's nothing. Don't worry about it." Syaoran said harshly to Sakura.

But Sakura wasn't about to take that from Syaoran. "Hey." She tore her hand from his and stopped walking. "What is going on?" She demanded.

Syaoran stopped walking but didn't turn around to meet Sakura's eyes. He sighed and looked up to the sky. "It's my parents." He answered shortly.

Sakura was quiet for a second. A few clues running through her head. "Oh god." She whispered. "That's how you got that bruise." She stared at Syaoran's back for a moment before walking in front of him. "Syaoran, I-"

"Don't." He said. "Just don't say anything. That man is not worth anything in my life nor my mothers. He can just go to hell."

Sakura stared, wide eyed at Syaoran. Every inch of her heart trying to reach him. "But, Syaoran…we should help your mother. She could be in so much pain. I-"

"Just don't!" Syaoran yelled.

Sakura winched at the sound. She started to back away down the sidewalk. Eventually when she got too far she turned around and walked quickly away, tears brimming at her eyes.

…………………………………………

I made a grave, grave mistake today.

Going into a pool, around people? Someone should have noticed. Wouldn't they have? I know Tomoyo saw how disgusting I look. But I couldn't help it. That cool, cool water. I just couldn't resist.

Maybe none of them noticed. They were drinking. They couldn't have known. We were having too much fun for anybody to really wonder why the weather was changing again.

That's it.

As long as I keep telling myself this I won't worry about it. Right?

Shit.

They know. I'm so sure that they know.

Syaoran. What will happen to Syaoran? He must be in so much pain. And he's powerless. His father must have beaten the will to fight out of him.

Oh god, what can I do?

…………………………………………

**Sorry that this took a while. And that it's short. I've got a lot of things going on right now so it's kinda hard to pay attention to the fic :p. **

**Anyways. Your reviews are helping! Mostly cause they remind me that I actually have a fic to write hah.**


	6. Chapter 6

Syaoran could hear his mother crying from outside where he stood, where he had watched Sakura walk away. He could hear his mother try to reason with Nobu, tell him that she was wrong and she'd try harder next time. Syaoran didn't care what Nobu had thought she had done wrong, the man was sick.

Looking around the front yard, Syaoran found a glass bottle. He stared at it for a moment, hesitating, wondering if he could do it. Could he hit Nobu? Could he beat the man that had hurt his mother nearly ever day for years?

Syaorans legs had already decided for him as he barged into the house, bottle in hand. His mother lay on the ground, crying, hand to her face. Nobu, the bastard he was stood triumphantly over her.

"Nobu!" Syaoran yelled, "Get away from her!"

Nobu drunkenly laughed, "And what the hell are you going to do about it, boy?"

Syaoran lunged at him, aiming the bottle at Nobu's head. There was a thunk as the bottle hit Nobu, then another thunk as he fell to the ground. He rolled to his side rubbbing his head.

"You little peice of shit!" Nobu yelled, looking at Syaoran as he tried to help up his mother. Nobu reached behind him. Tucked into his belt was a gun, and he maniacly smiled as he stood up and pointed it at Syaoran. "Don't you move, boy. Or your mother is going to have to pick up your brains from every corner of this room."

Syaoran defiantly stood up straighter, "You won't kill me," he challenged.

Nobu made an outraged cry and jumped onto Syaoran, bringing them both to the floor with Nobu on top, his knees digging into Syaoran's arm and the cold steel of the gun pressed hard onto his temple.

_This is it, _Syaoran thought, _he's going to kill me. And I couldn't do a goddamned thing for mom._

Nobu cocked the gun and Syaoran clenched his eyes. Nobu shook him, "Don't you dare close your eyes! I want you to see it coming." Syaoran felt the cold steel leave his head.

He opened his eyes then, to see the butt of the gun coming down on his head.

...

"_Earlier this evening, police reported a wild fire started in Tibet. Fire fighters are doing everything they can to tame the fire. The heat is reportedly making it difficult." _

_..._

"I wonder where Sakura and Syaoran are. They'll be late if they don't show up soon." Tomoyo said, looking in every direction to see if her friends where on their way.

"I think they did the smart thing and stayed inside today. Man, do you remember the last heat wave we had like this?" Eriol replied, "I don't think it's ever been this hot."

Takashi, who was slumped in his seat, clearly hung over from the night before mumbled, "Could you not remind me how hot it is right now? I'm trying everything I can to ignore it."

Eriol laughed, "That's what you get, man. I told you to stop after 10, but no, you just had to keep going."

"Guys I'm serious!" Tomoyo interupted, "I mean, you've seen Syaoran's face lately right? What if it's not just some fight he got into? What if it's something at home? He never talks about his parents." Eriol nodded at that. "And what about Sakura? She's so sick. What if she's passed out on the floor in her apartment all by herself? Maybe they need us?"

Takashi sat up then and rubbed his eyes, "I think you're over thinking this. Syaoran's a tough guy and I'm sure he's fine. And Sakura seemed more then fine yesterday. Don't worry about it Tomo." He stood up looking at his watch. "Come on, first class is starting and I need a nap."

Eriol and Tomoyo got up as well. Eriol put his arm around Tomoyo and gave her an assuring squeeze. "You know, I think Takashi just wants to go to class cause he's been eyeing up Chiharu lately."

"I am not," Takashi said, "She is pretty hot though."

...

Pain. That was all Syaoran could feel. His head throbbed, and his arms felt as though they had been crushed. Every once and a while he would feel a cool wash cloth on his forehead, and he would hear small whispers, apologies.

"I'm so sorry. We're leaving. I promise we're leaving. Oh God I'm so sorry."

It looked to be sometime in the afternoon when Syaoran slowly sat up. He opened his eyes only a slit, just enough to see in front of him. He looked down, beside the bed. There lay his mother, sleeping, tears still pooled at the edges of her eyes.

Syaoran sighed and pulled the blanket off himself and placed it gently on his mother. He stood up, too quickly at first, having to sit back down and try again, slowly. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting it warm up. As he turned to look in the mirror he was only a little surprised at the damage done to his face. One giant bruise covered his cheek and his eye. A large goose bump covered the other side of his skull. He didn't remember Nobu hitting him there. He must have been knocked out after the first blow.

After Syaoran showered he headed back to his room, where the floor was no longer occupied by his mother. He figured she'd gone to her own bed to sleep. Once he changed into clean pants and shirt he went to the kitchen. He opened the drug cabinent and took out the extra strong Tylenol. He took out four, checked the dosage and put back one.

Had he heard right? Or was it just a wishful dream? Had his mother really said they were leaving? One could only hope after the night before. Which brought Syaoran to the question, where was Nobu? He checked the time and realized he'd be at work for another 2 hours. Syaoran wasn't planning on being there when he got back.

Once he'd left the house, Syaoran headed towards the school. He wasnt quite sure why, school would be over for the day soon. Then it hit him; Sakura was probably pissed at him. She was only worried about him and he had yelled at her.

_Guess I should go and apologize,_ Syaoran thought. As he got to the usual picnick table he lit a smoke, letting the toxic fumes curl in his lungs as he inhaled, then slowly felt the calming tingle as he exhaled.

A loud bang resounded through the school property and Syaoran dropped his smoke, sitting up straight and wildly looking around. A flashback of the gun pointed at his head playing over and over in his mind. He could still hear his mother crying, still feel himself tense for the oncoming blow. Nobu's drunken laughter mocked him.

"Hey!" Syaoran jumped at the new voice. "Skittish much?" Eriol chuckled as he plopped in the seat in front of Syaoran. His laughter died the second Syaoran turned and faced him. "What the hell happened to you!"

Syaoran looked away from his friend. "Nothin'," he said.

"The hell that's nothing. Dude...is something going on at home?" Eriol asked in a tip toe-y voice.

"No! So stay out of it, alright!" Syaoran snapped. He looked away from his friend, then looked back and made a face that said he was sorry for yelling. "Have you seen Sakura today?"

Eriol shook his head, "Nah, hasn't been here all day that I know of." Out of the corner of his eye, Eriol saw Tomoyo and Takashi approaching. "One second," he said. He got up and walked to meet the two before they got to the table. Syaoran knew Eriol was telling them not to ask about the bruises on his face, and for that he was grateful. He'd explain to them one day.

Tomoyo timidly sat down beside Syaoran and smiled at him, not sure what to say at first. Takashi just said, "Hey man," and did a hand shake thingy with Syaoran.

"So did you guys end up seeing Sakura today?" Eriol asked.

Tomoyo shook her head, "No, I'm kind of worried."

Takashi rolled his eyes, "I stand by what I said this morning, I think she's fine. Probably just staying out of the heat."

...

It's so hot. My skin is burning. My insides are being tortured. I need something cold. The bath tub is too far away, fridge too far away.

Oh God it hurts.

Sweat dripped down my face, my back, everywhere. I sprawled myself across the kitchen floor, trying to absorb the cool of the tile.

It felt as though smoke filled my lungs, choking, suffocating me. Yet I still breathed.

I had to wait it out. Sit through the awful pain and torture until the fire was put out.

...

Where was she? Was she avoiding him? Had what he said to her been more hurtful then he'd thought?

Sakura hadn't shown up the net day either. Syaoran was beginning to think she hated him, or left town, or something. But it had only been two days since he'd last seen her, his mind told him he must be overreacting.

Even still, Syaoran had decided to make a trip over to her apartment. What was the worst that could happen, she wouldn't let him in? At least then he would know they weren't meant to be friends.

As he walked he felt a shift in the air, the clouds covered the sun breifly, the wind picking up some. Then just as quickly as the sensation came, it left. Syaoran shrugged the feeling off.

He got up to the front door of the apartments and stared at the numbers and button. _Shit, _Syaoran thought, _I don't know her last name or the number to her apartment. _So he waited, deciding to see if someone who lived there would go in or out. He lit a smoke and sat down on the step.

Syaoran thought about last night. He had asked his mother if they really were leaving. A sorrwful look told him everything he didnt want to know. They weren't leaving, and Syaoran should avoid seeing Nobu for a while. He shook his head with anger. How could he let such a disgrace of a man ruin his and his mothers lives? He vaugely remembered his real father before he died but didn't dwell on the memory of him. What was the point? Didn't change anything.

The scrape of an opening door brought Syaoran out of his thoughts. An elderly woman was exiting the building. Syaoran jumped up and held the door open for her.

"Why thank you," she said with a gentle smile.

"You're welcome. Um, I was wondering, do you know a girl named Sakura that lives here? Brown hair, little on the short side?" Syaoran asked, seeing as how he didn't think he was going to find her by himself.

"Sakura? Hmmm, Sakura," the woman scratched her head in thought. "Oh yes, that sweet young lady. She help me with my groceries the other day."

"Um, great. Do you know what floor she's on? I really need to talk to her," Syaoran continued.

The old woman gave Syaoran another smile, "I believe she's on the third floor. 310 I think."

Syaoran thanked the older woman and continued inside. He took the elevator up to the third level. Once he got off he wasnt sure which way to go. He turned left and when the numbers started going down he turned around and went the other way. When he finally saw 309 he looked to the next door. He stopped in front of the door and took a breath.

As he brought his hand up and knocked on the door it opened only a crack. Syaoran stopped, waited, wondered if Sakura had accidently left the door open. Another knock and the door swung open a little wider, so he stuck his head in.

"Sakura? You in here?" he called. A soft bump answered. Syaoran took a small step inside the door. "Sakura?" He called again.

"N-no, don't com- don't come."

Syaoran was almost startled at the voice. It's sounded ragged and weak. He took a few more steps towards the entrance of the kitchen. "Sakura are you alright?"

As he took the last step and peered over the last corner he saw Sakura, laying on the floor, a pool of sweat underneath her. Quickly he ran up to her and leaned down to check her tempurature. He retracted his hand as soon as he'd touched her. Her skin felt like fire.

"Holy shit, we need to get you to a hospital or something," Syaoran said, looking around for a phone.

"No, pl-please. Just bathroo-bathroom. Tub. Cold water." Sakura said in a shaky voice. Broken sentences was all she could manage.

Syaoran stared at her. Her skin was so red, her hair was so damp, her eyes were barely open. "Please," she said again.

At that Syaoran dug his arms underneath her scorching body and picked her up. He didn't know where her bathroom was. At first he went to her bedroom, then opened a closet door where he reached in and took out a towel (he figured he'd need it anyways) then found the bathroom. He didn't bother taking off her clothes, they were already drenched in sweat. Syaoran gently placed her in the tub and turned on the water. He started turning the nob towards the warmer side when he felt Sakura's hand on his shoulder.

"No," She said, "Cold."

Syaoran nodded his head and turned the nob back to cold. As the water collected around her Syaoran could have sworn he heard a sizzling sound, but figured he was hearing things. After a while he put his hand to her forehead, it still felt hot but not like before.

Sakura gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hands and mumbled what Syaoran was sure a thank you. He just nodded again and stood up to go back into the kitchen. He grabbed a seprate towel and threw it on the kitchen floor to soak up all the sweat that had been left there. After he threw the towel in a laundry hamper, at least what he thought was the laundry hamper, he made to go through Sakura's cupbaords to find some soup or crackers or something. But they were all empty. Not a speck of food around. The only things in the fridge were ice packs and water bottles.

_What the hell is up with that? _Syaoran wondered. He went to check on her. Sakura was sound asleep.

...

**So yay for finally putting up chapter 6. It's only been what? 5 years? lol**


	7. Chapter 7

"_Police reports say that they have managed to put out the wildfire in Tibet. There were many trees destroyed and a few homes but the people of Tibet are grateful that more damage wasn't done."_

...

When I woke up my body didn't ache. Well, not as bad as it had for the last two days. I felt my plush sheets and blankets around me, and a cold wash cloth on my forehead. The room was barely lit by either the sun rising or setting, I couldn't tell. I sat up, letting the wash cloth fall to my lap. It felt as though I wasn't alone. I couldn't see anyone, but there was a presence in the apartment. I got out of bed and walked towards the door, noticing that I was in clean, dry clothes. The last thing I remembered was being on the kitchen floor, and then just fading in and out. I think I was put into the bath tub. Either way, I wasn't in the same clothes as before.

I opened the door and the smell of food, soup maybe, reached my nose. That was odd because I don't own food, don't eat food. The only sustenance I get is from water. I walked down the hallway and looked in the kitchen. To my complete surprise, Syaoran stood over the oven, soup warming in a pot.

"Uh, hi," I said.

Syaoran looked a little startled but said, "Hey, glad you're up. I hope you don't mind I'm using your stove. I thought you could use something to eat." He didn't fully turn his face towards me. Kind of rude.

"Oh, that's fine. Thank you." I stood there awkwardly not really knowing what else to say. But one question did come to mind. "How did you get in here?"

"Your door was kind of open when I got here, and when you didn't answer I just came in," Syaoran answered, looking sort of embarrassed, staring at the steaming pot.

"I see," I scratched a non-existent itch on my head. "What exactly happened, when you came in? My memory isn't too good."

Syaoran inhaled deeply, "Well, I came in, found you lying on the floor; you were burning up really badly. You told me to take you to the bathroom and put you in the tub, so I did. I filled it up with cold water, and then I waited."

I nodded my head, "And my clothes?"

"Tomoyo. I didn't think it was right if I changed your clothes so I called her over," he said, half looking at me again. "She's pretty worried about you."

It was starting to bother me that he wasn't looking right at me. "Thank you. That was really gentleman of you." I managed a half smile.

Syaoran pulled the soup off the stove, "This is ready if you're up for eating."

I shook my head, "I don't think I can right now." Syaoran's face pulled own a little. "Keep it on the stove for me; I might change my mind in a bit." I felt bad. He was trying to take care of me like how no one else I had known had. But he didn't know...couldn't know.

I walked to the fridge on the other side of Syaoran and grabbed a bottle of water. When I turned to look at him I saw the giant bruise that I guess he was trying to hide. "Syaoran! What the heck is that?" I only barely touched his face and he winced away from me.

"It's nothing. I got hit by a-"

"Bullshit that's nothing," I interrupted. Thinking back to a few nights ago, I asked "Would this be related to that night we were by your house?"

Syaoran's fists clenched. He turned away from me, not answering. With a frustrated sigh I grabbed an icepack out of the freezer and a thin towel from one of the drawers. I stepped in front of Syaoran and made to hand him the icepack. When he didn't take it I placed on his face for him gently.

"You don't have to answer me," I said. "But if I can help at all-"

"You can't" Syaoran spat.

I took his face in my other hand and made him look me in the eye, "Fine. Maybe I can't help, but that doesn't mean I can't try." I took my hand from his face and softened my voice, "Besides, after what you did for me, I wouldn't feel right not returning your kindness."

Syaoran opened his mouth to what I'm sure would have been a protest but I slapped my hand over his mouth. "If anything it's not for you, it's for me. Got it?" I removed my hand.

"Yeah, alright," Syaoran said. He took the icepack from my hand and held it there himself. "Thank you." We stood in another awkward silence. Syaoran looked as though he was thinking. "So, what happened to you?" He asked.

I was hoping to avoid this part of the conversation. "I guess I got over heated. I just came from Canada, so I think the temperature change took a toll on my body." The lie came easily, as though I had rehearsed it.

"Makes sense, I guess," Syaoran said. "It was weird; when I got here it was so hot outside. But when I left it had cooled down a lot."

I leaned against the counter, "That is odd. There's lots of crazy weather these days." I looked away as if Syaoran could see what I was hiding.

"Uh huh," He sighed. "I should get going then, now that you're up. Unless you want me to stay...?"

"Oh, no it's ok," I smiled at him as best as I could. "I should be ok now. You helped a lot really." I wasn't sure that just a thank you was enough. So I hugged him. He hesitated a second and I suddenly felt so stupid. This was probably too close for him. But he hugged me back, and I have to say I didn't want to let go. There was something about his arms; they were muscular, but not bulging. The image of him showering popped into my mind again.

...

When Sakura got to school the next day and sat down at the picnic table there were about three things she was certain of. First, Tomoyo was going to be a great friend, the way she worried about Sakura and wanted to care for her almost put Sakura to tears. Second, things between her and Syaoran were awkward. Sakura could hardly look at him or speak to him except for the appropriate "Yeah"s and nods in the conversation. And third, she was damn sure that he knew something was up with her. The way he looked at her, there was a way his eyes squinted knowingly. That was it. Her cover was blown. Sakura was already making plans to skip to the next town.

Sakura had noticed that Syaoran had stopped smoking around her. He would do it later when they were separated. It was a nice gesture, she thought, not that it changed much. The pollution clogged her nose and made her lungs sticky.

"Do you want to come over to my house tonight? We're thinking of watching a movie or something." Tomoyo asked. When Sakura didn't answer right away Tomoyo said, "Unless you're still not feeling good? You should go home and rest."

Sakura smiled, "Thanks Tomoyo. I'm feeling much better. But I think I should go home anyways. Just in case."

Tomoyo nodded and hugged Sakura. They went their separate ways soon after, Sakura wanting to avoid Syaoran and his stares. After the morning she had tried to not end up alone with him. She was afraid of the questions that could be swimming around in his mind. Afraid that she would have to answer them.

Sakura got to her apartment without seeing him. She breathed in a big sigh of relief and heard the wind pick up outside. Moving into her room she dumped her bag on the ground. But before she even had her butt on her bed she realized she'd left her homework books at school. She had been too concerned about avoiding Syaoran.

As she walked back to school she thought how silly it was to attend school, worry about homework. In a few years she would move onto the next town or country. She laughed a little to herself. She could drown herself and flood the world. She could set herself on fire and torch the world.

_How ignorant_, she thought.

A sudden wave of pain went through her body. She shuttered, trying to shake the feeling off. A tree somewhere had taken its last breath. Sakura straightened and continued on. Inside the school was cool. The air conditioning had been thrown on full blast due to the heat wave. Only a few students lingered in the halls, but Sakura managed to get to her locker virtually unnoticed.

"You're avoiding me," A voice said from behind her. Sakura sighed at being caught and slowly turned to face the person she knew would be standing there. Syaoran stared back at her, once again his eyes squinted in that 'oh so knowing' way.

"I know," Sakura replied and reached behind her to close her locker. She quickly stuffed her books into her bag. She looked Syaoran in the eye and when he didn't say anything she twisted and started walking away.

"So?" Syaoran said, following.

"So what?"

"So why have you been avoiding me all day? Have I done something wrong?" Syaoran asked quickly.

As Sakura kept walking through the doors to the outside she answered, "No, I'm just not feeling as sociable today, okay?"

Syoaran seemed to falter a step. "I see."

_Clearly you don't,_ Sakura thought. "I gotta get home. I'll see you later." With that she hurried off to her apartment.

Syaoran stood there a little dumbfounded. It was bugging him. He was certain there was more to Sakura then she let on. There were the tell tale signs of a secret being kept. But Sakura was obviously not in the sharing mood.

As he watched her walk off, Syaoran lit a smoke in frustration. It was only until she was out of sight that Syaoran started walking his own way home. He had been staying under Nobu's radar since the last fight. Syaoran didn't think he had the strength in himself to approach Nobu again, though he was more worried for his mother than ever before. She had started cowering the second she heard his car pull into the driveway.

Syaoran wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stepped inside his house. He stood at the front door, taking in the silence. This was not the house of a busy loving family. It was a death trap. Syaoran was now convinced he would die in this house.

His mother poked her head out of her room and gave a big sigh of relief. "Hi sweetie. How was your day?" She went to the kitchen and started pulling out stuff to make a sandwich. "Hungry?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks. It was ok I guess..." Syaoran said, sitting at the table.

"You guess? Whats wrong?" Naomi asked, spreading mayonnaise and honey mustard over turkey breast, Syaorans favourite.

Syaoran felt a bit awkward answering, "It's this...girl. I don't know, she's different than other girls."

"Does she act different around just you or everybody? Here," Naomi passed him the sandwich. He took a big bite so he could think about his answer. Sakura seemed to get along with everyone else just fine.

"I think its just me." He said over another bite.

"Maybe she likes you," his mother laughed and waggled her eyebrows.

Just for the hell of it Syaoran started laughing too. And it felt so good. When was the last time he and his mother had laughed together? He couldn't remember a time without sadness and hate.

As their short lived happiness died they heard an all too familiar car engine pulling into the driveway.

Syaoran began, "Maybe I should-"

"Yes, go to your room Syaoran," Naomi said, giving his hand a weak squeeze.

He got up, taking the rest of his sandwich, and slipped silently into his room. Syaoran new the routine now. He would hide, Nobu would get drunk, and Naomi would be lucky to see the next sunrise.

...

Sakura hastily grabbed her clothes, dirty and clean, and shoved them into her suitcase. Next were her water bottles and ice packs she hoped to keep cold in her mini cooler. Anxiety clawed at her mind. She was furious with Syaoran. Furious, confused, and sad. Why had he looked at her in that knowing way? Why did he have those eyes that saw right through her?

There was a howling wind that reached Sakuras ears that reflected her anger. She should have kept to herself and never made friends.

Sakura barely looked at the apartment as she left, clutching her things tightly. It was just another place. Another room that she had barely had time to live in. Life had not allowed her to get attached to things or people.

And yet Sakura found herself walking in the direction of Syaorans house.

...

**Next chapter is gonna be gooooooood :) thanks for reviews peeps **


	8. Chapter 8

The first sound Syaoran heard was a glass shattering. There was no doubt in his mind that his mothers hands had been too shaky to hold onto Nobu's next glass of whatever poison he had chosen for the night. It was deathly silent for a very long moment. And then the screaming and the sounds of a fist pounding into a skull started.

Rage was building inside Syaoran as he heard every smack, every punch. He could hardly control his own body as he bolted from his place on his bed and into the kitchen. There he saw his mother crumpled and crying on the floor, whispering for forgiveness.

"That was my favourite glass you stupid whore!" Nobu yelled in Naomi's face as he grabbed her hair and pulled her head up to look him in the eye. His wavering figure told Syaoran that Nobu had, had more than his fair share of alcohol.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" cried Naomi. Syaoran saw the blood emerging from her eyebrow. A previous cut reopened. "I co-couldn't hold on, I'm sorry. I'll buy you a new one just please let me go." she sobbed.

"You deserve everything you get bitch." Nobu slurred.

At the rise of his fist Syaoran jumped to block his mother from the blow. Nobu's fist connected with Syaoran's shoulder. He flinched but did not move away.

"I thought you'd learned your lesson, boy!" Nobu roared with a new anger.

"Let go of her," Syaoran said defiantly, grasping Nobu's fist that held onto his mothers hair. Syaoran felt another pound on his head, but he stayed strong.

"Boy, I will kill you," Nobu seethed right into Syaoran's face. "Don't think I wont. You and your pathetic mother." Nobu used all of his strentgh and ripped Syaoran's hand off him and sent him to the ground. Syaoran landed hard on his side. He felt and shooting pain in his rips and gasped. Putting his hand to his side he felt warm liquid seeping from under his shirt. Pulling his hand out he felt dizzy at the sight of his own blood. A piece of the shattered glass had lodged itself in-between his ribs. Syaorans world started to go black just as he heard a timid knock at the front door. His eyes snapped open with a renewed energy.

As Nobu cursed "Who the hell could that be?" Syaoran reached around behind him, scrapping his arm on little bits of glass as he searched for a bigger piece.

Nobu turned to answer the door. Syaoran slowly got up and slithered behind him. As he opened the door he said "Get the fuck outta here."

Syaoran jumped onto Nobu's unsuspecting back and jammed the glass shard into his throat. For an earth shattering second all was still. Then Nobu started screaming and spitting blood. The sounds were awful. Over Nobu's screams, Syaoran heard tiny whimpers of fear. He looked towards the open door and his eyes opened wider then ever before.

Sakura stood there, mouth gaping, chest heaving as though she were hyperventilating. A suit case stood beside her. She looked up at Syaoran and back at Nobu's flailing body. It wasn't long before he dropped to the ground, blood pouring from his neck. Sakura took one deep breath and walked towards Nobu.

"Sakura, no, don't. He-"

"Shut up, Syaoran. Just shut up. Go take care of your mom." Sakura snapped at him, the frightened girl suddenly gone.

"But Sakura he might-"

"Just go!" She yelled, looking at Syaoran in a way he had never been looked at before.

Syaoran watched as she leaned over Nobu's now still form. "Go to your mom." She said one last time. And Syaoran did. He limped back to Naomi, holding his side. She was face down crying into the cold tile.

"Mom?" Syaoran touched her shoulder lightly. At his touch, Naomi jumped up and hugged Syaoran as tightly as she could, drowning herself in her tears and Syaorans shirt.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," She cried.

"It's ok, mom. It's over now." Syaoran held her just as tightly. It really was over. Syaoran could feel it. He could feel relief spreading through him. They would call the police. Syaoran would admit to what Nobu, and himself, had done. Syaoran would take any consequence as long as it meant his mother was safe. They were free. Nobu was dead...He couldn't hurt them anymore.

Out of the corner of his eye, Syaoran saw over the kitchen counter a small red light. He squeezed Naomi one last time saying, ``Hold on a second, I'll be right back.``

As he started stepping away from his mother he heard a small sound as if a piece of glass hit the floor. He peeked around the counter where he saw the remnants of the red light fade into Sakura`s hands that were placed on Nobu`s neck. Something told Syaoran not to say a word. When Sakura stood up she looked at her blood stained hands. Syaoran grabbed some paper towel and rushed over to her, taking her hands and wiping them off.

``Why are you leaving?`` Was all Syaoran could think of to say. He didn`t know what to think of what he just saw.

``I...I can't tell you.`` She whispered. Syaoran looked into her eyes. They were sad and confused and frightened. ``Call the police. He'll wake up soon.`` She nodded at Nobu.

Syaoran blinked a few times, shocked. ``He's...He's not...dead?``

"No." Sakura said. "Where's your phone? I'll call."

"No I'll do it." Syaoran twisted to get the phone but doubled over in forgotten pain. He drew in air through clenched teeth as he held his side, his adrenaline no longer blocking the awful hurt.

"Syaoran, you're bleeding!" Sakura crouched beside him. "Take off your shirt."

"What?" Syaoran asked.

"Just trust me and do it! You're loosing too much blood, we don't have a lot of time." Sakura waited patiently for Syaoran to get his shirt off. She closed her eyes and shook her head, mumbling something about a shower and getting something out of her head. Sakura took a deep breath and placed her hand directly on Syaorans wound. His eyes widened at what he witnessed.

The same faint red light glowed from underneath Sakura's fingertips. His side went numb and tingly at the same time. Syaoran moved away from Sakura.

"What are you doing!" He shouted.

"Syaoran please trust me." Sakura pleaded. "Just stay, I'm almost done."

Her tone surprised Syaoran, but he stayed still and let whatever Sakura was doing heal him. "How are you doing that?"

Sakura stayed quiet for a moment as the light disappeared into her hands again. "I can't tell you that."

Suddenly Syaoran felt enraged. "You come here, bags packed, you saw what I did to Nobu and you do..whatever the hell that was and you can't fucking tell me anything?" Syaoran snapped. He stood up, towering over Sakura. She looked so small and crumpled. "What the hell am I supposed to think of this? This is just fucking crazy!"

Sakura's eyes started to water. "Please stop," she whispered, putting her face into her bloody hands. "Please stop."

"Syaoran?" Naomi said from behind him. "Who's there?" She walked into the living room and processed the scene in front of her. "Oh no, sweetie are you ok?" Naomi crouched beside Sakura, still a little wobbly and out of it, and started rubbing her back.

Sakura looked up at Naomi, tears running down her face. "I'm alright."

Syaoran saw Sakura eyeing the bruises and cuts on his mothers body. As Sakura reached up to Naomi's head, Syaoran quickly grabbed her hand and stood her up. "Don't you dare." He hissed.

"What's the matter Syaoran?" Naomi stood up, looking confused.

"Call the police mom. Nobu could wake up soon." Syaoran said, not looking away from Sakura.

Naomi nodded and timidly left the room.

"I was just going to help ease the pain." Sakura snapped.

"You can do that crazy shit on me and Nobu but not on my mom." Syaoran took Sakura's arm and pulled her to the kitchen to wash off her hands. "She doesn't need to know about this. She's been through enough."

"Fine. I'm leaving then." Sakura yanked her hands out of Syaorans and stormed passed Nobu's almost dead body and gathered her luggage. She managed to make it two house away from Syaoran's house before she heard the loud sirens of an ambulance and police car. Three more houses down and she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her stop. Sakura wished desperately that it was a police man and not Syaoran. She didn't think she could take anymore from him.

"Wait. You can't just leave." She heard Syaoran's voice say. It was an apologetic voice. Sakura could hardly think. What had she done? There was no way she could take back what had just happened. She had panicked at the sight of blood. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. But you have to understand, there's no logical way in my mind that can explain what just happened. Sakura...I need to know the truth." Syaoran pleaded.

Sakura sighed as she turned to face him. "Go back home and deal with that first. Come to my apartment when you can."

"But Sa-"

"Please Syaoran. I'll see you when you come by. Go to your mom." Sakura shrugged Syaorans hand off her shoulder and turned away from him, making her way home.

...

It felt as though time was mocking Syaoran. The slower time went, the more anxious he got. The more questions he was asked, the more spiteful he got.

"Was your father an alcoholic?"

"He's not my father."

"How long had your mother and father been together?"

"He's not my father."

"Your father was a violent man?"

"He's not my goddamned father!"

How long had they been questioning him? Had Sakura lied to him and left town already? Syaoran tried to pay attention to the police but he could not help his wandering mind. Naomi was in a terrible state and needed Syaoran. She had cried and cried, hardly able to let go of Syaoran and apologizing to him every chance she got. At one point she had asked him about the blood left on his shirt. Syaoran had dismissively said it was nothing, just a scratch. He decided he would stay with his mother for the night and see Sakura early the next day.

When it was all over, police dismissing Syaoran's almost murder as an act of defence given the state Nobu left him and his mother in, they had gone, ambulance gone with Nobu, and his mother in bed, Syaoran sat outside and lit a smoke. And it was the best smoke he had ever had.

Nobu was gone. He would be out of their lives for good. Police were taking him to prison and Syaoran and his mother were to stay with his grandma. Syaoran was glad to be leaving this house. All it was, was an abyss of hate.

...

"Where are we going?" Syaoran asked for the fourth time.

"You'll see," Sakura replied, "We're almost there."

They had been walking for about half an hour through a patch of woods just outside of town. It was a beautiful day, the sun warm, breeze cool. Sakura was taking her time getting there. Stalling. But it was not much longer until they reached a small opening. A small circle with weeds and a small patch of dandelions grew.

"Is this it? This is what you wanted to show me?" Syaoran crossed his arms, clearly not impressed.

"No, this isn't it." Sakura rolled her eyes at him. She pulled her backpack off and opened it. She pulled out a cooler and a lighter.

"Whats all this?" Syaoran asked.

"You ask too many questions. Just wait and I'll show you. Then you can ask away." Sakura couldn't believe she was doing this. Out of the centuries she had been alive she had never once considered telling anyone what she was. Of course, no one had ever put her in such a situation such as this.

Sakura lifted up the lighter and said, "Watch. Just watch." She lifted up her pinkie finger and lit the lighter underneath it, burning her finger. She flinched but kept the heat going.

"What are you doing!" Syaoran smacked the lighter from her hands.

"Syaoran I said just watch!" Sakura yelled, frustrated. "You want to know what happened last night right?" She said crouching to find the lighter in amongst the weeds.

"Ya but i hardly think you have to burn yourself to do it." Syaoran huffed.

Sakura sighed for the millionth time that morning. "To help you understand what I am I have to show you first. Theres no better way for me to do it. So just shut up and watch." She found the lighter and started to burn her finger again. Syaoran gave her a look as though she were stupid.

_He'll understand soon, just give him time, _Sakura thought.

After a long minute, Syaoran heard a crackling coming from behind him, a long with the smell of burnt wood. He turned to see a tree, smoking from the bottom up. "Whats happening?" He whispered to himself. Soon the tree burst into flames and he heard Sakura fall to the ground. Turning around he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sakura looked like how she did when he had found her on her kitchen floor, feverish and gasping as though her lungs were filled with smoke. He stood there, looking from Sakura to the tree many times before, weakly, Sakura said, "Get the water and ice, out of the cooler."

Syaoran quickly did as she had asked. She lifted her body up enough to grab the water first, "Watch." She said, motioning to the tree. Syaoran turned to look at the tree. As he heard the sound of water splashing over Sakura's body, he suddenly felt rain drops on his head. He looked up at what used to be a clear sky. A small cloud hung high above them, blocking out the sun. Syaoran looked back down at the tree to see the flames dying.

What was happening?

"What...umm, you are...what the hell was that?" Syaoran managed to say.

Sakura slowly sat up, crossing her legs. "I have one more thing to show you. Then I'll tell you anything you want to know." She pulled the bag of ice to her chest and hugged it to herself. She felt the chills before the wind came, cold and unforgiving. Syaoran shuddered, a new type of shock as well as the blistering cold going through him.

Sakura threw the ice away and waited for the sun to come back out. She pulled out a new shirt from her bag and motioned for Syaoran to turn around. He did so, but in a zombie like trance.

"So, do you see?" Sakura said. "You can turn around now."

Syaoran turned and looked at Sakura, really taking in her weak form, her pale skin. The words were there, but he just couldn't say them. In Syaoran's mind nothing was real, nothing made sense anymore. No, he was over reacting. Syaoran shook his head thinking, _No, no there's an explanation. _

"Tell me exactly what you are." Syaoran demanded.

Sakura took a breath and said, "I am the grass, the trees, the water, the air. I am the smog in the air, I'm the pollution in the water."

"Stop playing with me!" Syaoran shouted, all his emotions coming out in a rush. "What are you?"

Sakura took a step towards him. "Syaoran...I'm Earth."

A silence fell over them. This was exactly what Sakura had feared. Was this a mistake? She had thought Syaoran was different, that he, in his troubled life, would understand in a way other people wouldn't. Sakura started planning where she would go next.

"So...so what you can make fires and stuff? Make it rain?" Syaoran finally said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, but I don't. This was the only way I could show you." Sakura said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Its more like, what you experience with the weather, happens inside me. I can feel what the Earth feels."

Syaoran thought for a moment about the other day when he had found Sakura, so sickly, and it clicked in his mind. "When you were burning up the other day...there was a fire in Tibet. You felt that?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes. It hasn't even been the worst I've felt before. My body is so complex, I can feel every tree die, every drop of rain fall."

"So if you can feel all that how are you still alive?" Syaoran asked, scratching his head. This was just barely starting to make sense.

"The Earth is an amazing thing. We have been alive for millions of years, been through so much, yet we keep struggling for life. Over the years I've managed to train my body into just knowing what I'm feeling, not always experiencing the pain." Sakura ripped a weed out of the ground. "I do that, and I feel nothing. I just know it happened."

A thought struck Syaoran as he listened to Sakura explain. "You, in this body, have been around since the Earth like...began?"

Sakura's eyes grew sad and tired, "For many reasons I do not talk about the past."

"Why? Was it bad?"

She shook her head. "To tell you what happened in the beginning would change everything as humanity knows it." She said simply. "There has been this delusion of how things were back then. But it would be unfair to tell the truth. Why ruin what makes people happy?"

There was a sort of depressed air that settled around them. Syaoran thought about the tree, burning before him one second, then back to normal the next, minus the singed leaves.

"What about tsunamis and earth quakes?" He said changing the subject.

"Those are the worst. With tsunamis it's like I'm drowning on the inside out, like waves crashing inside my body. And earth quakes," Sakura shuddered, "I can't even begin to explain even the most minor quakes."

For the first time Syaoran noticed how twitchy Sakura was. Normally Sakura could control her body, masquerading as a normal human being. But with this revelation she felt as if her control was slipping.

"My real father is dead." Syaoran blurted out. Sakura looked at him in surprise. "I used to call Nobu my father, because for a while he was. He had treated our family the way he should have. But as soon as I turned ten, something happened. I don't know what made him change, but one day my mother was sweeping in the kitchen and she accidentally knocked over a vase that woke Nobu up. He came into the room and hit her, yelling at her that she woke him up." Syaoran closed his eyes at the memory.

"That's horrible. I'm really sorry." Sakura said, looking at him. She was surprised at his change of subject, but touched his shoulder lightly and gave him a small smile.

Syaoran could not keep his thoughts on himself though. There was one question he just couldn't resist asking.

"If you die, is the whole world going to die too?"

...

**Yay! 3 **


	9. Chapter 9

"What about showers and pools and stuff? Like if you take one hot or cold that'll make the weather whatever temperature you are?" Syaoran asked excitedly.

"Exactly." Sakura answered, sipping at ice water. Another cool breeze passed by them.

"Wow. That's amazing that that's you." Syaoran's eyes were lit up like a little boy about to get ice cream. "Oh ya, I forgot, what about that red light heal-y thing you did?"

"To be honest I haven't totally figured that out." Another sip, another breeze. "I have my theories though. It could be that I'm using the Earths own rejuvenation in a concentrated dose. I haven't done it in a very long time. Mostly I use it to control my own pain after, say, an earth quake. But for forest fires and stuff like that I use cold water and my own will power."

"What about animals? Are you, like, connected to them too?"

Sakura laughed, "You just can't stop can you?"

Syaoran laughed with her. He was excited, learning all these things about Sakura, and having a new found appreciation for this planet. He had been hounding Sakura since the day before, after he got over the shock. She had not answered him about her dying though. She said it was something that they should not dwell on.

"No, I'm not connected to animals. Humans and animals are separate from me. I can only feel their decomposing bodies after they die." She said matter-of-factually, pulling her hair up into a loose bun.

"That's kind of...grim." Syaoran thought about it for a minute. "What about their souls?"

"Same thing, souls are different. I don't know much about the whole soul leaving the body and heaven and hell thing."

"Right, being Earth and all, I guess that kind of keeps you occupied." Syaron still found it weird to call Sakura 'Earth'.

Since finding out about Sakura, she had noticed Syaoran stopped smelling like smoke. She wasn't sure how long he would last not smoking- she had heard it was incredibly hard. But it was a nice thought.

At school during the week Syaoran would spend every free second he had with Sakura. This was the closest he had felt to someone since...well, ever. Eriol, Takashi, and Tomoyo were one thing, they were great friends, but there was not a huge secret between them that kept them close. He tried not to forget about them though. When he felt as though he was suffocating Sakura he would offer to go see their friends.

Sakura's feelings of wanting to stay over powered her need to flee the town. Every night before she slept she would curse herself for staying, that it was a bad idea. And yet with every morning she had a renewed sense of security, that she was ok staying in Tomoeda as long as it was only Syaoran that knew about her.

...

Tomoyo was the first at the picnic table after school, looking through one of her school books, chewing on the end of her pen as Sakura walked over and sat down beside her.

"What are you working on?" Sakura asked.

Tomoyo let go of a deep breath she didn't even realize she was holding in. "Some stupid math problems." She slapped her book shut and waved it off. "Whatever I can save it for later. Hey what are you doing now? I was thinking of having everyone over at my place again. Do you want to come?"

Sakura smiled. "Ya I'd love to." As an after thought, she hugged Tomoyo. It felt right.

"What was that for?" Tomoyo said, smiling back. "Not that I don't like hugs."

"Just because you're a good person and a good friend." She said, meaning every word. She would certainly miss Tomoyo when the day came that she had to leave.

Tomoyo smiled even deeper and Sakura could see a small hint of a tear in her eye before the boys showed up and ruined their perfect friend moment. Tomoyo asked them the same thing, if they wanted to go to her house, and of course they all said yes.

"I'll be there a bit later," Syaoran said, "I gotta help move some stuff to my grandmas. I won't be long though." He gave Sakura a bit of a longer look before he walked off, the corner of his mouth lifted into the smallest smile. Syaoran's heart raced as he thought about their talks and he wondered when they would get to be alone next.

The afternoon was warm, a perfect temperature. While Syaoran was moving some of his belongings into a truck he felt a chilly wind float around him. _She must be in the pool, _he thought.

Syaoran's mind was plagued with Sakura, Sakura, Sakura. He found himself waiting for a change in the weather so he could imagine what Sakura was doing to make it change. Maybe she was gulping down cold water, or taking a bath, or maybe it was a heat wave making her sick.

"I guess we're almost done." Naomi said. Her face had healed some, the gash on her eye brow though would probably scar. "There's not much I want to take with me I suppose." Her eyes went a little cloudy. "Too many bad memories."

Syaoran took her hand and squeezed it lightly. His mother put her head on his shoulder as they looked at the front of the house. "I don't think I'll miss this place, not even with the good memories."

"It's ok, mom. We'll make better memories." Syaoran smiled at her and went back into the house. It didn't look much different from before. The furniture still in their places, book shelves still full with Nobu's things that he didn't dare touch. In Syaoran's room there was only one thing left to get. A picture of his real father. Syaoran never knew him. Naomi said that he had died before Syaoran was even born. But she had loved him deeply and knew that Syaoran would have too. It made him sad that he would never meet him, in flesh at least. Maybe, if there was a heaven, Syaoran would meet him there.

"Come on, Syaoran, lets get going!" His mother called. Syaoran couldn't have been more happy to leave. As he left he didn't give the house one last look.

His grandma, Ellienne, greeted them with open arms, making an upset face at the sight of their own faces. "You'll be happy here," she promised, "I'll take good care of you both. It's been too long and I've been lonely so don't dare tell me I can't!"

With no room to argue, Syaoran and Naomi unpacked their things and let Ellienne make them cool drinks and finger sandwiches. It was in the middle of a long conversation that Syaoran noticed how hot it had gotten. They had been sitting outside under a large umbrella and the weather had been moderately warm, but now it felt as though the sun was beating down on them. At first Syaoran thought it was nothing, Sakura and the others had stopped playing in the pool. But as it persisted and got even hotter he started to worry.

"Hey, mom, grandma, I've got to go. I promised Tomoyo I would come by later. I'm pretty sure this counts as later." Syaoran said getting up and taking his dishes.

"Oh don't worry about those, sweetie, we'll get them. Go have fun." Naomi said.

With a small 'thanks', Syaoran grabbed a bike Ellienne had bought for him and raced over to Tomoyo's. He was sure something was wrong with Sakura.

...

I could feel the heat before I saw the smoke outside Tomoyo's bathroom window. A fair distance away I could see smoke rising from the forest just outside of town where I had shown Syaoran what I was. My body started to itch with a fire-y burn. My lungs filled with a black smoke and I couldn't help coughing. A fire so close to my body would take a larger toll on me then the wild fire in Tibet had.

Water, I needed water.

My ears felt so fuzzy with heat, I barely heard a knock on the bathroom door. "Sakura! Are you almost done? We're trying to pick a movie and we can't decide without you." Tomoyo called through the door.

"I'll be out in a minute." I said, shakily.

"Are..are you ok? You sound kind of sick."

Bless Tomoyo's heart. "I need some cold water, could you get me a glass please?" I managed , my voice a bit stronger.

"Ok, I'll be right back!" I heard Tomoyo's quick footsteps stomp down into the kitchen. And thank goodness for those refrigerators that have ice built right in them. Tomoyo was back and knocking on the door before I could count to twenty. I opened the door enough to take the glass she gave me and closed it again briefly saying I was feeling a little over heated. She nodded and said she would wait out in the hall in case I needed anything else. If only she knew how much I appreciated that.

I quickly drank the cold water and took a couple pieces of ice and rubbed them over my head, chest, and arms. The ice melted too quickly.

After a few more melted ice cubes, I heard Tomoyo talking to someone in the hall. It was getting hard to stay standing. I had a firm grip on the sink but my hands felt too sweaty to hold on much longer.

Another knock on the door, "Sakura?" It was Syaoran's voice. He must have known, must have noticed the heat.

I could hardly see straight anymore as I turned to open the door. I turned the handle and felt the door swing open, but my body went with it, crashing onto the hallway carpet.

"Oh no, whats wrong with her?" I heard Tomoyo yell.

If I wasn't sure if I could rely on Syaoran to lie on the spot, I knew I could now. "She must have gotten too much sun today." I felt him pick me up. "Go start a cold bath. I'll bring her up."

"O-ok." Tomoyo squeaked then ran upstairs to the bathroom with a tub in it.

Syaoran started walking. "I saw the smoke. Some stupid kids must have started a fire in the woods. I came as soon as I could."

His words were sweet but almost meaningless to me as I faded in and out. His body was too warm, it only fuelled the flame on my skin.

"God you're burning." He whispered.

"It's almost full. Get out Syaoran, I'll do the rest." Tomoyo said. I felt the cool tile of the bathroom floor. I was barely aware that Tomoyo was taking my clothes off. Thank goodness I was still wearing my bathing suit.

Then cold. Just pure cold.

...

Sakura didn't go to school the next day. She stayed in her bed, not even sure how she got home, tossing and turning, many thoughts running through her mind. It had been a close call the night before. If Syaoran hadn't shown up, she wasn't sure what might have happened. She was starting to think making friends was a bad idea. They didn't deserve to be sucked into her life.

At around noon Sakura finally got out of bed and into a cool shower. She was starting to notice her ribs stuck out more then they had a month ago. Her skin looking more yellow than before. Sakura had to start drinking more and more water to sustain her body. It was a terrifying sign.

As she got dressed, Sakura heard a knock on her door. Quickly pulling on her jeans she ran to the door, sure that she knew who was behind it.

"Hey," Syaoran said.

"Hi," Sakura smiled, "Come in."

"No, you come out." Syaoran grabbed Sakura's sneakers and handed them to her. "We're going somewhere."

"Oh," Sakura put on her shoes, "Where?" She asked.

"You'll see. I figured we could do a good deed today." Syaoran took Sakura's hand and led her out of the apartment and into his car that he borrowed from his grandma. He explained that Sakura shouldn't walk because of the little episode the night before. Sakura hastily agreed.

"But I don't have any of my things." She said, a little worried.

"I've already packed a cooler. I didn't think we would need a lighter this time though." Syaoran joked. He drove to the outside of the forest and parked near a pathway.

"What are we doing here?" Sakura asked, getting out of the car.

Syaoran handed her a hat, "Put this on. We're going to clean up the area where the fire happened." He said, noticing a small cloud block some rays of the sun. "Really? When you put a hat on it does that?"

Sakura laughed, "Yeah I guess so. I shade my face so the Earth shades us."

They walked until they started to smell the burnt wood and leaves that were left over. The area was trashed. Beer bottles everywhere, garbage even hung in some of the trees. Sakura felt disgusted at the scene. Syaoran brought out a few garbage bags and started cleaning up. It amazed Sakura at the enthusiasm Syaoran had for the environment considering the way she first met him.

The two of them chatted as they cleaned and shared a giant bottle of ice water. Syaoran had even brought an umbrella to rest under while they took a break.

"You thought of everything," Sakura said, removing the hat. More clouds collected in front of the sun.

Syaoran nodded. "So, I have an other question. What about future weather reports? Are they actually right or do you just make that kind of weather to amuse us?"

Another laugh, "No, that weather actually does happen. In a way the Earth controls me, and I control it. I don't so much make weather happen, I just manipulate it, sort of enhance it."

"Like the fire?"

"Ya. Like the fire." Sakura sighed. She wasn't sure how many more fires, tornado's, or earth quakes she'd live through. At that thought she became very sad. Sakura new she'd have to tell Syaoran sometime soon. It brought tears to her eyes. It started lightly raining.

Syaoran, seeing the rain first, looked at Sakura. "Hey, whats the matter?" He said, using his thumb to wipe away a few tears.

"I- I should really tell you something." Sakura heaved a shaky breath.

Syaoran was sure he knew what she was talking about. So he beat her to it. "When you die, the Earth will too." He said calmly, as if he had rehearsed it. If he had been honest with Sakura, he would have told her that out of everything Sakura had told him, he couldn't stop thinking about that one thing. Because that meant she would leave him. Damn the rest of the world. Syaoran's own life now revolved around Sakura.

All Sakura could do was nod and cry harder. The rain pelted down. Syaoran pulled Sakura out from underneath the umbrella and into the rain, so they could both pretend she wasn't crying. "I don't know how much time I have left." Sakura admitted. "It could be a year, a month. I don't know."

"Shhh." Syaoran whispered. He didn't want to hear anymore. All he wanted to to make Sakura happy. Slowly, he lifted her chin to look at him, and he leaned his face in to kiss her.

Sakura had never been kissed before. It was a whole new sensation to her. A warmth filled inside her heart and head. It was the best feeling she had ever had.

They heard an odd sound around them. Syaoran's lips left hers. As they looked, flowers grew, new leaves sprouted on the burnt trees. The rain turned into sun showers. Sakura laughed and cried at the same time and spun in a circle, totally engrossed with joy.

The sight was beautiful.

...

**Wooooo. Excitment! **


	10. Chapter 10

It had been months, Sakura couldn't count how many, since she and Syaoran first kissed. Just the memory of it left the tiniest flowers as she walked, or made the sky a bit clearer. School was over for the summer, and they had spent nearly ever day together. Syaoran had gone on a tirade of cleaning up the streets and forest, convinced it would help the Earth heal. Sakura went along with it, knowing it gave him some peace of mind. Either that or he was distracting himself from the inevitable. He had even got Tomoyo, Takashi and Eriol involved. Takashi sometimes brought Chiharu along too. He had finally gotten the courage to talk to her. There were bets going on about when everyone thought they would start dating.

Syaoran was still asking questions. "Can you eat any food?" "What happens if you stay in water too long? Will you get all prune-y or is it different?" "What about when it snows?" "Can you use sunscreen?" Again and again Sakura would give him answers to the best of her knowledge.

It was one day out on the beach though that Sakura had realized that their relationship had been all about her. She knew some things about Syaoran but there was a lot that she was sure she didn't know about him.

"When were you born?" She asked.

"October fourth. My mom was hoping to have me in August but I was a couple months late." He shrugged.

"Did your mother not want any other kids?"

"I don't know. My father died before I was even born, and Nobu, I think all along she sort of knew something was off about him."

Sakura leaned on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said, now wishing she didn't bring it up. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Right now, green. It reminds me of you." Syaoran put his arm around her warm shoulder. The clouds cleared a bit. "Does that mean you're happy?" He pointed up at the sky.

Sakura giggled like a little girl, "Yes." She said simply. "What's your favourite sport?"

"Since I was a boy, soccer. But I never play anymore."

"Why? Did you get injured?"

"No, I just got too consumed with my life to concentrate on it." Another shrug.

Syaoran was silent for a moment."I was thinking," He said finally, looking a little nervous.

"Ok, about what?" Sakura looked at him. Whatever it was, it was bothering him.

"I just...what about...sex?" Syaoran's face went red. Shocked, all Sakura could do was stare. Syaoran thought of her that way? Sakura had been to enough schools to know what sex was and that babies happened because of it. But she had never thought she herself could do it.

Seeing Sakura's face, Syaoran quickly said, "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer. It's a stupid question."

There was a small spark of anger that lit inside Sakura. She felt as though he was asking her this because that's what he wanted from her. That if he was nice enough to her, she would give herself to him in that way.

"You want to...do that with me?" Sakura asked a little bluntly.

Taken aback, Syaoran answered, "Well, it is in human nature. But I just want to know if you can I guess."

"It's in human nature? Is that all?" Sakura stood up from where they sat on the beach and walked into the waves, needing to keep her body cool from the heat emerging from inside herself.

Syaoran followed her. "No. You're taking this the wrong way."

"Am I? It sounds to me like you're asking me if I am capable of having sex so you can sate your own physical needs." Sakura crossed her arms. A hot angry wind blew around them.

"Please don't be mad. I really was just wondering." Syaoran reached to touch her shoulder but thought better of it. Instead he said, "We can stop talking about it if you want. I won't ever bring it up again."

Sakura, not looking at Syaoran, nodded, wanting desperately that he had never even asked her in the first place.

She dived under the water and swam for as long as she could have held her breath if she had been a real human being. Sakura wondered if she could give up her long lasting, painful life to be a real human. To be able to know that you could be with the person you think about and feel deeply for, for the rest of your life. Then maybe Syaoran's question about sex wouldn't be so farfetched. When she surfaced, Syaoran still stood where she left him, watching her. Another angry wind. Syaoran threw his hands up and shook his head.

Sakura let her body fall backwards into the water then, not wanting Syaoran to see her look like a child. This time she laid her body down flat, letting herself sink to the floor of the lake. Being the Earth had it's perks. She was air, so she didn't need to breathe if she didn't want to. Most times she did it just to look more normal, but sometimes she just forgot. She let her body drift around with the waves. It felt wonderful. Sakura didn't know where her limbs ended and the water begun. Her heart felt at peace here. That was, until she felt the water around her being disturbed. Suddenly and arm wrapped itself around her and pulled her up to the surface.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Syaoran seethed at her. "People started to think you'd drowned." He stood her up on her own and started walking back to the shore, Sakura followed slowly. Syaoran was angrily packing up their things when she caught up. "Come on, let's go home."

Sakura was a little hurt that Syaoran wanted to just up and leave, but she knew when to apologize. "I'm sorry. I just forget sometimes. And it felt so good."

"You can't just do that Sakura. Do you want other people knowing what you are?" Syaoran threw the backpack over his shoulder and took the cooler in his other hand then started walking to the parking area.

Sakura slipped on her sandals and walked behind him, embarrassed. She had let her emotions get the better of her. It seemed, even though she wasn't human, she had very human emotions and acted on them just as irrationally as they did. No one had ever made her loose her control like that before. She had had many encounters before, but she managed to stay neutral, unfeeling for those people.

They both got into the car, and for a while they said nothing to each other as Syaoran drove. Both consumed in their own feelings, both feeling as though they'd wronged one another. Sakura could still feel the anger coming off of Syaoran, making his own waves. She had never made him mad before, it was new to the both of them. It wasn't until they were back in town that Syaoran said, "You scared me."

"I can't drown Syaoran. I was fine." Sakura rested her head on her arm that leaned against the car window.

"I know that," Syaoran started to sound frustrated. "You scared me because someone could have seen. You're different, and if you let yourself be so open like that people are going to figure it out."

Sakura closed her eyes. Clouds pulled up around the sun. "I know. It's just...not being able to be who I really am...it makes me sad."

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Syaoran took a chance at took his eyes off the road to look at her. "I guess, for nothing but selfish reasons, I want to be the only one who truly knows you."

The clouds receded. Sakura gave Syaoran an understanding smile. She wanted Syaoran to be the only one too.

"It scares me."

"What does?" Syaoran asked.

"Sex," she said honestly. "I don't know if I can do it. I don't know what will happen."

Syaoran thought about his words carefully before he said, "All I was wondering is if you thought it was possible. I didn't intend on sounding like a jerk. And you don't have to do anything with me if you don't want to ok?"

Sakura looked at him and nodded. She reached for his hand and he gladly took hers, kissing her knuckles.

At that moment, down the street, a car coming from the opposite way blew a tire. It started careening out of control. It was the awful screech on the pavement that made Syaoran look back up at the road. He barely heard Sakura say "Watch out!" and he tried to swerve out of the way. But as he moved the trunk end of the other car swung right into the front of Syaoran's car. There was a loud bang and glass shattered everywhere. Sakura flung forward in her seat but was thankfully held inside the car by her seat belt. She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as the car made a sudden stop. The world was still spinning as she tried to get her bearings. Her hand blindly reached for Syaoran, scared because he wasn't making a sound.

"Sy-Syaoran. Syaoran." She said weakly. She felt his shirt and tried to concentrate on looking at him. As her vision became stable she saw Syaoran slumped in his seat. Blood was pouring out of his head. His arms were embedded with shards of glass.

"Syaoran?" She shook his arm. Nothing. "Oh no." She whispered. She rushed to undo her seat belt which made her clumsy and missed the release button. She looked around outside. It looked like the man in the other was knocked out as well. Sakura silently thanked that she had privacy for at least a minute. It would be long enough.

Finally releasing her seat belt, Sakura reached over and touched Syaoran's head where there was a giant gash. She concentrated her energy and tried to heal him. There was a small sputter of red light. But then it went dim. She couldn't feel her healing power working. Sakura tried again. Nothing.

"No, no," she said. "Please work." She tried again. And again, nothing.

"No! Work!" Sakura started yelling. The more she tried the more it seemed to fade into herself. Her own body was using all it's energy to heal itself.

Without thinking about it, Sakura pushed it away and out of her body. That was when the pain became worse. But it didn't matter. She had to help Syaoran. With all of the energy and will power she had, Sakura pushed her mind as hard as she could to heal Syaoran. Finally, thankfully, the red light appeared, bright and strong. Within seconds the gash started to close. Sakura's vision was going blurry, her head spun. She could feel warm liquid running down her stomach.

Just as she started to slump back into her seat she could hear voices say, "Sakura? Sakura!" "Oh my god are you ok?" "Call for help!" "Sakura!"

...

**hehehehehehehe **


End file.
